2020 Parish Council Minutes of Meetings

Londonthorpe & Harrowby Without Parish Council

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held 11th March 2020 at Belmont School 7.15pm.

This meeting followed the Annual Parish |Meeting.

Public Open Session: there were no parishioners present.

Councillors present; John Anderson, Geoff Parnham, Avril Gregory, Richard Keeler, Paul Bavin, Carol Markwell, George Chivers, and Roland Wright. Janie Lee arrived at 7.40pm (9 Members were present.).

Geoff Parnham the Chairperson took the Chair. Pete Armstrong the Clerk took the notes.

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Apologies; Margery Radley, Paul Bakker, Yolanda Martin, and W Charley. Cllr L Wootten had apologised by email as she was ill.

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Declarations of Interest; J Anderson declared a non-pecuniary interest in item 19/77 regards the Five Gates Planning Application.

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Clerks Notes of the 8th January 2020 meeting were accepted as a true record and became the minutes. Proposed by J Anderson, seconded R Wright, all members agreed.

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Clerks Update on Matters Arising; none, all items covered within the agenda.

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Financial Statement No.6.

The Clerk/RFO went through the financial report in the detail explaining all the payments etc. Cheques were made out for the following: The Community Cleaners and Clerks salaries for the last two months Jan& Feb totalling £1615.22. other payments included Morrall Play £270 (£45 VAT) for ROSPA the Inspection, WACS £210 for repairs around the parish, LALC £12 for magazines. Belvoir Tree Surgery @ Withambrook £550, Newsletter £1100, Thorpe Trees £186 (£31), Belmont Room-hire £156. Londonthorpe Village Gateways (Glasdon £5709.26 (£951.54) fitting £1100 no VAT. Other payments were the Clerks Annual Expenses to cover Printer/Ink, Phone/Internet and Use of Home Office £300. Petty Cash was £77.44 (£9.28), this included Meeting expenses, Working Party and Newsletter, also included was an amount of £2.26 carried forward from the May meeting.

Total expenditure during these two months being £11285.92 a total of £1036.34 of VAT is reclaimable.

Known expenditure due for payment before the next meeting are Community Cleaner’s Salary, Clerks Salary, , Grass Cutting, Repairs, Office, and any costs incurred for the Village Planters. The income during this two-month period was £9.64 HSBC Interest.

The Clerk informed the meeting that some budget headings were overspent but others were underspent this was mainly due to the purchase of the Village Gateways, the new Computer and the extra pages in the Newsletter caused by the budget headings used. Some virements will be used to remedy this.

Covid 19 Pandemic, at this time the effects it will have on us are not known, especially if the Lockdown happens. The Clerk/RFO was given the authority to use his powers to ensure the smooth running of the council’s affairs.

The Clerk/RFO was asked to make the best possible decisions if the threatened Pandemic Lockdown does happen. As the over 70s would be the hardest hit by being in lockdown for a long period of time, this would make the smooth running of our council meetings difficult.

The Financial Policy to be the go-to document for any unusual situations to be decided on.

Agreement to accept the Financial Statement No 6 and all the options suggested, plus the normal expected payments for up to May was proposed by R Wright seconded by A Gregory this was agreed unanimously.

Also due for payment but requiring agreement were the LALC membership, Scribe Accounts Membership, other annual smaller memberships, and the Insurance which we have on a three-year deal. This cost may change when we add the Gateways etc, this was proposed by J Anderson & seconded by R Wright agreed Unan.

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Leisure & Outdoor Committee.

All Areas covered by this Committee are as usual reported in this item.

a. A Committee Meeting was held on the 4th March. R Keeler the committee chairman gave a short report back and explained about the meetings held at Belton House about the link-up project The Clerk then updated members on the following items

b. Playground Safety: Our usual ROSPA Inspector has now carried out the annual inspection, which was done in November and the report has just been received. There are no urgent matters all listed problems are two medium and the rest low risk, but some need keeping an eye on in case they deteriorate.

c. Withambrook: New Backboards required for the Basketball court were done and one has already been broken again and the hoop taken a new hoop is to be sourced and WACS will then do the work. The trees deemed to be dangerous in the wildlife area next to Setchfield s have been sorted this week.

d. Belfry: AMG fitted a fresh piece of Fitness equipment to replace the step-trainer. We are very thankful for their assistance and gratefully accepted it. A letter of thanks to be sent noting their generosity. Items to be dealt with here from the report are the Gate Closer and loose post.

e. Hills & Hollows: The tree that died was replaced by one of the ones planted in February. Other trees planted were ones donated by a Woodland Trust member from Foston. A letter of thanks to be sent. Cllr Wright informed members of him calling the police when up at the Hollows after spotting two youths with a screwdriver attempting to attack our info-boards.

f. Fifth Ave; The replacement caps were fitted; this was one item which is on the ROSPA safety report sorted. No Ball Games sign to be replaced

g. New Play Equipment: it was agreed no new equipment required at present unless, decisions are made after reviewing the ROSPA report.

h. Woodland Trust Working Party: the weather has been against us this year the February meeting was postponed until a fortnight later because of storm Ciara. We then got hit by another storm Dennis on that date, both these made it unsafe to work in the woods. We are hoping to arrange a further event in May to do some work on that will not affect the trees and nesting of the birds etc.

i. Five Gates; the Clerk and Councillors; Parnham, Bakker and Keeler have been to meetings containing presentations of the work planned, these were given by WT & NT. The first meeting had members from LCC Highways present and answered queries brought up by delegates.

j. j. Tree Conservation: village tours to observe targets as going around.

k. Village Tours: the dates agreed are Tuesday 2nd June and Wednesday 10th June all councillors should attend one of these.

We are still waiting for confirmation of the work to be done at the Jelsons Spinney on the Sunningdale Estate.

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Highways Notes/Flooding.

Chatsworth Avenue/Harrowby Hill Flooding; the remedial work on Chatsworth has now taken place; it is some sort of improvement but the sound of running water is still causing annoyance to the residents. It has been stated that this was all that could be done by Highways, but the rest is down to the landowners

A letter to our County Councillor L Wootten asking for the matter of a speed limit on Harrowby Lane from the High Dyke to the 30mph sign, was passed to County. This is for the consideration of a 40 or 50mph limit be applied.

Southern Link Relief Road: we understand from Rowan Smith that work will be starting simultaneously on both our end A52 Roundabout and Spitalgate Level. This may be early next year. Some road closures are to be expected.

After eight months the streetlight on Harrowby Lane has been replaced.

Flooding around the Parish: as stated before we have had nothing further on this. We know the extreme flooding around the county over the last few months will have kept them busy!

Potholes/Flooding Five Gates: severe flooding has occurred on numerous occasions at the Five Gates entrance to the Park from Londonthorpe end.

Londonthorpe Village Gateways; The gateways were fitted at a gross cost of £6800 including the fitting. All necessary permissions are in place from County Highways for planters. The exact locations will be decided if we go ahead with LCC. The gateways have been well received and several volunteers have come forward to look after them if agreed to purchase. Members were shown options that the L&O Committee had decided on. R Wright proposed and R Keeler seconded the purchase of these. Size will be as near to 70cmX50cmX50cm in black recycled plastic. Cllr Linda Wootten has given us £500 of her SKDC Councillor Grant towards them, we thank her for this.

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Newsletter: all deliver in time for notification of Annual Parish Meeting. One complaint about early morning delivery received i.e. before 8.00am. Many nice comments received about the content etc, Londonthorpe residents pleased with the Village Gateways and offers of volunteers to look after the planters when we go ahead.

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Policies: Training Policy to follow. The Clerk is due to go on the required Training Course for the new Website on the 24th March.

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Correspondence: We have received information re the Covid 19 Coronavirus, it was agreed that the Clerk would keep all members informed and take all the necessary actions required on the councillor’s behalf. (See Finance Report)

The Chairman informed members of his invitation to meet with all other Parish Council Chairman and our Local MP.

As usual all other relevant correspondence has been passed on as it arrived.

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Matters for the Next Agenda etc.

Meeting closed 8.55. pm. Diary Dates are as per these minutes and the Spring Newsletter.

Next meeting Annual Parish Council: 20th May 2020 at 7.00pm.